Container with pouring spout and opening



June 17, 1958 J. G. O'NEIL 2,839,234

CONTAINER WITH POURING SPOUT AND OPENING Filed Nov. 50, 1951 INV EN TOR.

JbH/v 6% OWE/L Ila Unite States Patent CONTAINER WITH POURING SPDUT ANDOPENING John G. ONeil, Minneapolis, Minn assignor to Weinon Corporation,St. iaui, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Application November 30,1951, Serial No. 259,185

2 Claims. (Cl. 229-7) This invention relates to a container having acover, said container and cover. being constructed so that an openingorpouring. spout can beformed at one side of said cover and containerthrough which the contents of said container may be poured. It is nowcommon to transport milk and other liquids in containers made offlexible material, such as heavy paper or light cardboard. It isdesirable to have the containerso constructed that the-milk or othercontents can be poured'therefrom-with little eifo'rt.

It is an object of this inventiontoprovide a-container having a coverthereon, said container and cover being made of flexible sheet materialwhich may be heavy paper or light cardboard, said cover having a flangeextending about said container adjacent the top thereof and secured tosaid container, a portion of said cover forming a tab, said cover beingso constructed that said tab may be lifted and said container and covercompressed to form an opening or pouring spout at said tab.

It is another object of this invention to provide a container made offlexible sheet material, the same having a cover with a depending flangeextending around the top of said container and secured thereto by anadhesive, a portion of said flange forming a tab and said cover havingcreases or lines formed therein having their ends spaced along said taband their other ends converging toward the opposite side of said coverwhereby said tab can be lifted from said container and said containerand cover compressed in a direction transversely of said creases orlines so that said cover folds upwardly along said creases or lines anda pouring spout and opening is formed at said tab.

It is more specifically an object of this invention to provide acontainer of flexible sheet material and preferably of cylindrical formhaving a cover of flexible material with a depending flange extendingabout said container at the top thereof and secured to said containerpreferably by an adhesive, a portion of said flange forming a tab, saidcover having three lines or creases formed therein, the ends of two ofwhich are disposed adjacent the ends of said tab, and have their otherends at a point substantially diametrically opposite the center of saidtab, and another one of said creases or lines extending from adjacentthe center of said tab to said point whereby said tab can be lifted andsaid container and cover can be compressed in a direction transverselyof said creases or lines so that said cover will fold upwardly aboutsaid creases into inverted V-like form and a pouring opening and spoutwill be formed at said tab.

It is still further an object of this invention to provide a novelmethod of forming such a container as set forth in the precedingobjects.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fullyset forth in the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views and in which:

r 2,839,234 Patented June 17, 1958 Fig; 1 is a perspective view of thecontainer and cover;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the container'and cover;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, as indicatedby the arrows, and turned through degrees; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the top portion of the container andcover showing how the pouring opening and spout are formed.

Referring to the drawings, a container 10 is shown, and while this mighttake various forms, in the embodiment of the invention illustrated, itis shown as cylindri cal. Said container has a closed bottom and isprovided with a cover 11 at its top having a flange which has a portion11a extending around the inside of container. 10 and being reverselybent around the upper end portion of said container so that it forms theportion 11b which extends about the outer side of container 10 anddepends about said container. Said cover 11' has a flat central portion11c within the flange 11a. While said flange might be variously formed,in the embodiment of the invention illustrated, it is shown ashavingamultiplicity of portions 11d having semicircular lower ends. The saidflange on cover 11 is tightly secured to the container, preferably by anadhesive. While the container and cover could be made of any flexiblesheet material, in practice the same has been madefrom strong heavypaper or light cardboard, and the cover and container are coated with awaterproof coating on both sides.

in accordance with the present invention, the flange portion lib isformed with an elongated portion 11e which forms a tab of considerablecircumferential extent. The central portion lie of the cover is formedwith a plurality of creases, lines or indentations 11 While the numberof the portions 11 might be varied, in the embodiment of the inventionillustrated they are shown as three in number. The ends of the outer orremote portions 11 are disposed adjacent the ends of tab 116 and theother ends thereof are disposed at a point located adjacent flangeportion 11a substantially diametrically opposite the circumferentialcenter of tab 112. The other portion 11 is disposed substantially midwaybetween said two portions and it thus extends from substantially thecircumferential center of tab 114; across the top of the cover to theends of the other portions 11). The inside of the cover 11 andparticularly the inner sides of the flange thereof is highly calenderedto provide a smooth firm surface.

When it is desired to dispense the contents of the container, such asmilk or other liquid, the operator will lift the tab He by inserting hisfingernail or an suitable implement thereunder. The inner side of thetab being highly calendered, the same lifts away from the container witha clean smooth surface. After the tab He is so lifted, the operator thensqueezes or compresses the container and cover in a directiontransversely of the creases 11 The central portion lie of the cover thenfolds about the creases 11 The top portion of the cover so foldedextends along the central crease 117 and the folded portion of the coverthen extends downwardly in inclined form to the outer creases 11 so thatthe folded portion of the cover would be triangular in cross section orsomewhat pyramidal, as shown in Fig. 4. The tab 11e folds with thefolded portion of the cover and the container folds outwardly at theportion which was secured to the tab so that a spout 163a is formed, thesides of which converge into a curve, as seen in Fig. 4. A veryconvenicnt spout and pouring opening is thus formed and the containercan now be tilted and the contents discharged through the spout 10a.When the desired amount of the contents has been discharged, thepressure on the in the refrigerator.

From the above description it will be seen that I have produced a verysimple and yet a very eflicient structure for quickly and easily forminga pouring spout and opening through which the contents of the containercan be dispensed. The structure is easily formed and the operationthereof is simple and can be quite rapidly performed. The device hasbeen amply demonstrated in actual practice, found to be very' successfuland efiicient and the same is being commercially made.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in theform, details, arrangement and proportions of the device and in thesteps and sequence of.

stepsof the method without departing from the scope of applicantsinvention, which, generally stated, consists in a method and devicecapable of carrying out the objects above set forth, such as disclosedand defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A cylindrical container made of strong heavy paper or light cardboardhaving a cap thereon of flexible material with a depending flangeextending about the top portion vof said container, said flange having aportion thereof forming a tab of appreciable circumferentialextent, thetop of said cover having creases formed therein,

two of which extend from approximately the ends of said tab and convergeto a point diametrically opposite the center of said tab and the otherof which extends from substantially the center of said tab and acrosssaid cover whereby said tab can be lifted and said container and saidtop compressed transversely of said creases without creasing thecylindrical wall of said container to form a semi-cylindrical spoutatsaid tab, said cover folding upwardly along said creases.

2. A cylindrical container made of flexible sheet material having a capthereon of flexible material with a de pending flange extending aboutthe top portion of said container, said flange having a portion thereofforming a circumferentially extending tab, said cover having apluralityof creases formed therein having their ends alined with the ends of saidtab and converging to a point at the opposite side ofsaid cover, thewall of said cover having an uninterrupted surface at its upper portionwhereby said tab can be liftedfand said cover and container compressedtransversely of saidcreases to form a semi-cylin-' drical spout adjacentsaid tab, said cover folding upwardly along said creases.

v Reterences Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,323,505 Wilcox July'6, 1943 2,330,840 ONeil Oct. 5, 1943 2,470,984Homing May 24, 1949

